New Jersey will remain in a state of emergency throughout rush hour Monday as crews try to clean up still-treacherous roads, acting Gov. Stephen Sweeney said.

“We really want people to stay off the roads and give us a chance to clean them up,” he said from Gloucester County, in a part of southern New Jersey which wasn’t hit as hard as the northern side of the state. “We were hammered…This was a very difficult storm to deal with.”

Sweeney, a Democrat and president of the state Senate, declared a state of emergency Sunday evening and activated the National Guard. While Gov. Chris Christie and Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno are out of state, Sweeney is filling in as the state’s chief executive. He has been in touch with the governor’s top aides and cabinet officers, but not with Christie himself.

Christie is on vacation with his family at Disney World in Florida, and Guadagno is in Mexico with her family, said spokesman Michael Drewniak. Guadagno is the state’s first lieutenant governor, a position created by a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2005 to fill in for a traveling or otherwise out-of-commission governor. Drewniak declined to answer why both executives were out of state simultaneously.

Throughout the storm, hundreds of cars were stuck along the roads and highways, Sweeney said. People were brought to shelters but some drivers refused to leave their cars; workers brought provisions such as gas, water and food, he said.

Tight bands of snow stuck around until 6 a.m. Monday, and high winds redeposited the snow over just-plowed areas. Plows themselves became stuck in snow drifts, and abandoned cars made the clean-up job that much more difficult.

“These storms, you feel like you’re chasing them for a while, trying to get in front of it,” Sweeney said. “This morning, at around 11 o’clock, we felt like we started to turn the corner.”

Sweeney said he could — but wouldn’t — try any funny business while he’s in charge of the state, such as signing bills from his party’s agenda or making other decisions the Republican governor would oppose. “He was elected to govern the state, and I would never disrespect his office by playing games while he was away,” Sweeney said. “He deserves a vacation as well.”

Other Democrats were not as understanding. State Sen. Raymond Lesniak criticized the dual vacations while the state was “under siege.” He said they should follow examples set by emergency management officials, who coordinate vacation schedules.

Lesniak said he had made a mistake when he supported the creation of the lieutenant governor position. “They should have given more thought to the responsibilities of their office,” he said. “This was a major public policy [item.]”

Lesniak is also in Florida but said it was different for him, one of 40 state senators.

Drewniak, Christie’s spokesman, said the governor was in “constant contact” with his staff.

“The chief of staff and chief counsel have in turn been in regular contact with the acting governor throughout to be sure that emergency and other services are in full operation,” Drewniak said in an e-mail. “The world is not coming to an end. We are a northeastern state and we do get snow — sometimes big snows like this — and we will get through it just as we always have.”